Resources

Prepaid Cards: Bane or Boon? That depends…

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For perhaps the largest selection of prepaid card plans in the industry, you can visit Kaiku (kaiku.com). Kaiku is well known for administrating many prepaid Visa card programs that are responsible for returning many individuals, families and businesses to financial health.

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No matter how much financial trouble you are in, a prepaid Visa credit card from Kaiku will always help the situation. Although the card can be used just like a Visa credit card, the prepaid option means that you will never spend more money than you deposit on the card in the first place. This means that your purchases will still go towards the improvement of your credit score, but you will never face the consequences of a late payment.

Kaiku offers both vanity prepaid cards as well as Visa cards from major banking institutions. You can also use Kaiku in multiple instances with many prepaid cards for different purposes. Kaiku also allows you to add money online with one of the most convenient and up to date deposit systems on the Internet today.

If you do not have the best credit or you are just looking for a credit card option that will protect your financial health, then you should check out Kaiku. You would do well to note that prepaid cards do have a variety of fees and charges including a monthly fee and a credit card deposit fee.

If you manage your withdrawals and account checks to in-network services, you’ll probably be fine; but if you travel a lot internationally or have to use a fee ATM service, it may not be particularly affordable. However, many pre-paid cards seem to offer similar packages.

The good news is: no need to pay interest rates on your prepaid card, so stuffing one in your wallet may be quite useful at times. Just remember to keep cash in it and monthly rates are $1.95. Oh, and don’t get a paper statement! That’ll set you back $2.95.

Should you consider a PayDayLoan or a Title Loan?

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Everyone needs some cash at times, whether it’s for emergencies or just to have some fun. If you don’t have a good credit score though, most banks won’t give you the time of day. If this applies to you, consider a title loan on your car.

A Title Loan Is…

Many people have heard of a title loan, but don’t know what it really is. With a title loan, you are getting a loan using your car as collateral. You might point out that you need your car, but that is not a problem. Working with Texas auto title loans, you get to keep your car, as long as you pay off your loan. The car is just collateral in the rare case that you don’t make your payments.

My favorite thing about eTitleLoan is their mobile loan agents. Sure, you might need money, but driving to a loan store, doing the paperwork, etc., takes time, and often more time than you have on a lunch break. This is even more important in the case of an emergency need for cash.

With eTitleLoan though, you just give them a call, and they send their loan agents to you. Not only that, but they will tell you right on the phone everything that you need to have with you to process the loan. None of this garbage where you think you’re getting the loan, but end up not having all the paperwork they need so they just send you on your way, still broke.

Obviously no one wants to need emergency cash, but if that day comes, definitely consider giving eTitleLoan a call. Their whole business model, with their mobile loan agents, makes the process as easy as possible, and gets you the cash you need quickly. I highly recommend it.

John In Houston

(Note: Of course, if you don’t keep up payments on your title loan, you may risk losing your car! Now that might be even more inconvenient than not having a little cash! And don’t forget to check the interest rates! Some of these loans have high interest rates, much higher than typical bank loans.)

Steps to Renting: Becoming a Landlord

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If you remember my previous post about generating additional income, it was quite a long time ago in which I wrote:

My wife and I have talked about renting out our current apartment to generate additional income. But we encountered three problems that have so far prevented us from making any success on this:

  • 1. we like it here and we don’t want to move yet;
  • 2. we still wouldn’t make any residual profit from renting our house out without paying off part of the mortgage principal (something we don’t have enough cash yet to do); and
  • 3. we can’t decide where we’d like to live other than here. Contribution $0. Potential contribution estimated at $100.

So if you like a rental income property (and who doesn’t?), what do you need to get started? Mmm… it’s hardly like we’ve made a start. So let me list the things that I think I would need:

1. Renovation:

We seriously need to do the tiling work in several rooms: the bathroom, where the tiling is beginning to separate from the walls due to the contraction and expansion of the concrete in summer/winter, and the poor workmanship when the place was finished. I also suspect that we need to replace one of the air conditioners in the study.

2. Redecoration:

We’ve got walls painted in a variety of colors, and it’s been a few years. It’s likely that our tastes aren’t exactly the same as our renters. So we’ve probably got a bit of painting to do, as well as other minor repairs.

3. Insurance:

Not sure how to handle that. I know that you can get landlord’s insurance… but what happens if the tenant absconds or worse? Can that be claimed?

4. Finances:

Since our property is mortgaged, the yields are just not very attractive since rents are fairly low in this neck of the woods. We know that we would have some gross profit, but there’s also a landlord’s tax of 10% on the income. So not sure how that would work. I think the only solution would be to pay off some or a lot of the principle. Still a good return on money invested.

5. Renting:

Finding good tenants would be a priority. The neighboring landlord rents his apartment, the tenants there have been anything but reliable. Dirty, filthy,… with problems paying rent. I think tenant screening would be essential to prevent this, even if it meant the apartment being empty longer.

With a sound plan, it might work. Still a few kinks to work out. I do know that the area is very desirable, with lots of chances to find tenants. Of course, that means we’d have to move! A chance to find a new area.